Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said during the first session of the 6th National Youth Conference on 'The Strategy of Building the Egyptian Person,' that character-building will be the cabinet's priority in the coming period.

Madbouly, who assumed the premiership last month, said this will be achieved through implementing education and healthcare reform, strengthening cultural identity, and paying attention to sports.

The conference, which is held on 28-29 July at Cairo University, is being attended by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisib along with 3,000 youth, students and officials.

"After four years of working on security and stability, our goal is to launch the 'Egypt Takes Off' programme, [which involves] building the Egyptian character to improve the standard of living for citizens through housing projects and eliminating slums, followed by economic development to create jobs and activate the system of entrepreneurship," explained Madbouly.

The Prime Minister added that the cabinet's four-year 'Egypt Takes Off' programme will include the start of the overhaul of the education system.

The new system would provide development and retraining programs for teachers, adoption of Japanese schools' models, and the development of curricula, and more emphasis on scientific research.

The prime minister then explained that the health system will be taken care of through the comprehensive health insurance program which has already been launched.

El-Sisi along with the cabinet are closely following up on the issue of waiting-lists, and the program of detection and treatment of the virus C, which targets treatment for 45 million citizens within two years, explained Madbouly.

On cultural issues, the prime minister said "Our goal is to create cultural beacons in each governorate in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports. We are currently working on a new opera house in the new administrative capital as well as an arts complex and a cultural centre in the new Alamein city."

Madbouly said he was proud to speak at his alma mater of Cairo University in the presence of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. 

Madbouly recalled the story of his perseverance as a son of a middle class family who graduated from the Faculty of Engineering then one day became prime minister.

"I am a graduate of June 1988, I still remember my departure from the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University, If someone came to me then and told me that after 30 years "you will come here as prime minister, I would have told him you are dreaming."